Energy Department: Pantex didn't have to report pollution

Published: Friday, May 19, 2000

AMARILLO {AP} The U.S. Department of Energy wants Texas regulators to rescind an enforcement notice they issued to the Pantex nuclear weapons plant because the DOE says plant operators were not required to immediately report actual levels of groundwater contamination.

The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission cited Pantex in March for not properly notifying the state after finding trichloroethylene, or TCE, contaminating a monitoring well last year.

The Environmental Protection Agency has identified TCE as a probable cancer-causing agent.

The May 1999 discovery of TCE at Pantex was first reported to the state in September, but plant officials did not tell the state agency the exact TCE concentrations at that time, the Amarillo Globe-News reported.

"If you have an (excess) of something, you're obligated under your permit to report any incidents within 24 hours verbally."

TRNCC spokesman Brad Jones

But in a letter sent last month to Texas officials, DOE said Pantex was not legally required to report TCE levels to the state. DOE said Pantex told state officials in September that they detected TCE for the first time and more sampling would be performed.

The federal agency also said the contamination could have resulted from old practices used at the plant instead of current operations.

In March, Pantex officials publicly reported the TCE contamination, which exceeded federal drinking-water standards. TCE was detected at concentrations of 8 parts per billion exceeding the EPA's safety standard of 5 parts per billion. The TCE at Pantex is believed to have come from solvent used to clean greasy parts.

DOE officials also have acknowledged delays in publicly reporting the contamination in the Ogallala Aquifer, which is a drinking water source for Amarillo and the High Plains.

Both DOE reports came after Energy Secretary Bill Richardson asked agency experts to investigate why the contamination was not reported by the plant for several months.

Pantex officials have since agreed to drill more groundwater-monitoring wells and improve their reporting procedures.

TRNCC spokesman Brad Jones said he wasn't surprised at the letter from DOE and said industries cited for groundwater contamination are required to respond within 30 days.

"They feel like they're covered because they reported it, and we're saying, 'No, if you have an (excess) of something, you're obligated under your permit to report any incidents within 24 hours verbally,"' he said.

After a review, the state resource commission's board could issue a fine or require more corrective actions.